Radio is a powerful direct response media, and it keeps changing as formats change.

Here are two things marketers should know about the new trends and the best-direct response formats.

  1. Format Trends

Country music stations are keeping its lead with 12.4% of all U.S. stations.

The Second highest is News/Talk at 11.5%. With 159 fewer outlets than Country, it has lost 21 stations from a year ago.

The “Religion” category (Including teaching and variety-formatted stations) is close behind at 11.4%.

Contemporary Christian got the biggest gains, adding a net 21 stations year-over-year.

The all-Spanish stations category placing fifth, adds an impressive 16 outlets from a year ago.

The top 40/CHR, which ranks 10th, lost the most stations, with 24 gone from a year ago.

Format – Number of Stations Jan 22 Jan 23
Country 2,172 2,178
News/Talk 2,040 2,019
Religion 2,010 2,005
Contemporary Christian 1,322 1,343
Spanish 1,254 1,270
Variety 1,250 1,239
Classic Hits 1,175 1,191
Classic Rock 621 633
Sports 641 631
Top 40 611 587

 

  1. The best direct response format.

The best direct response formats for responses… the ones that produce the best D to C response in order are:

  1. News/Talk
  2. Religion
  3. Spanish
  4. Sports
  5. Contemporary Christian
  6. Financial

Interested in advertising on Radio or Podcasts? Give us a call at 615-993-4647 or email Michael at [email protected].